Great games that sold poorly or flat-out bombed

[robwright]

I had a discussion the other day with some fellow gamers and we started talking about games that we thought were great but sold poorly or flat out bombed. Not necessarily talking about games with cult followings but titles that you've played, thought were great, and then wondered why everyone that you talked to had never played the game before or even heard of it.

So I figured it might be time to compile a new list of titles that were critically acclaimed and loved by pretty much everyone who played them yet had crappy sales. Any ideas? I'll start it off with a few: Psychonauts and Indigo Prophecy. Not sure what the sales figures are for either one, but I see them in the bargain bins all the time and listed online with very low prices. Yet pretty much every review and comment I've read about both games has been overwhelmingly positive.

Nominations and suggestions are welcome, along with the reasons why you think the game wasn't commercially successful.

 

[Korror]

Planescape: Torment is a poster child for the cause of underselling great games. PS:T was probably the greatest PC RPG ever published. It's talked about online a great deal but didn't sell that many copies when it came out. I was very fortunate to find my copy in a bargain bin I was rooting through.

Reasons why it didn't sell too well? It was weird to put it mildly. The Planescape setting is quite different from normal fantasy and the story (You're an immortal trying to die) is not the usual plot one finds in an RPG. Also it's not the prettiest of games being a low res 2d game with lots of brown and gray tones.

Korror

 

[Wolfy]

Supposedly has one of the best stories ever tho. Which reminds me that I have to locate a copy sooner or later.

As for good games that flat out bombed or sold poorly..... Hmmm....

I know I know some but can't recall anything at the moment.... it's too early for thinking.

 

[stemnin]

I can't think of any either right now, but I know a few games I wish would flop lol. Like GoW (x360), I nearly fell asleep, never has a game bored me so. When I awoke, I remembered why I play PC games.

 

[bfellow]

Planescape: Torment is a poster child for the cause of underselling great games. PS:T was probably the greatest PC RPG ever published. It's talked about online a great deal but didn't sell that many copies when it came out. I was very fortunate to find my copy in a bargain bin I was rooting through.

Reasons why it didn't sell too well? It was weird to put it mildly. The Planescape setting is quite different from normal fantasy and the story (You're an immortal trying to die) is not the usual plot one finds in an RPG. Also it's not the prettiest of games being a low res 2d game with lots of brown and gray tones.

Korror

Hmm maybe somebody with alot of time can create a NWN/NWN 2 port of the game?

 

[guruofchem]

Yep - gotta agree with Psychonauts, although I heard somewhere it resurfaced on one of the online delivery services and was doing better. Gotta love Planescape as well - one of the quirkiest RPGs ever to hit a PC, and wonderfully done. Can't think of any others at the moment, but I'm sure something will come to me eventually.

 

[Aaron McKenna]

There are many examples, but I recall Giants: Citizen Kabuto in particular. Did really well at review, was dead on arrival to retail whilst plenty of crap games sold really, really well. Interplay really got screwed in that regard throughout its lifetime...

Sacrifice is another good example... Interplay again.

 

[robwright]

I fired up Psychonauts last night, and it was a treat. It's been a while since I truly laughed out loud while playing a game, which I did several times in the first 30 minutes alone. I usually hate cut scenes, but holy crap, these were hilarious. I can't wait to play it more.

I had heard of Planescape only in passing, and had no idea it was an Interplay game, which I guess makes sense because it sounds unconventional and off-the-wall. And I had no idea the game featured quite the voice acting cast: Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Mitch Pileggi (X-Files), John de Lancie (Q), Sheena Easton (wtf?), and motherf---ing Keith David (They Live, The Thing)! I'm definitely going to get this game...

 

[MxM]

Giants: Citizen Kabuto was the great game, indeed. Sacrifice was another game about the same time which did not receive much following.

I also think that Kohan games did not receive enough coverage, and especially Kohan II did what that "flat-out bombing"

 

[GyRo567]

I'd definitely have to agree with both Psychonauts and Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy.

A few others that come to mind:
Blade Runner
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall
Tribes Vengeance (also System Shock 2 & just about any Irrational game...)
Freespace 1/2
GTR 1/2
Red Orchestra (actually I'll just say all good simulations)
Pirates! (relative to its awesomeness)
I want to say Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but I think it did do well...?_?...
Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords
Clive Barker's Undying

That's all I've got for now. I'm aware that not all of these are truly poor sellers, but I seem to get that impression.

 

[Wolfy]

Blade Severance of Darkness.

That was a fantastic third person hack and slash with amazingly well paced upgrades/new combos.

Got great reviews but never ever heard of other ppl playing it in my circles. I gotta recommend ppl have a look for this game if you have a joypad.

Also, I ahem, downloaded a copy of planescape last night. Looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about.

I have to say I disagree with you on Sacrifice there Aaron. I remember it only getting avg reviews and the game itself was pretty but also repetitive.

 

[Aaron McKenna]

Blade Runner... one of the best adventure games ever. One of the only games I've ever bothered to play through several times in order to unlock all the endings, and simply savour the game along the way.

 

[MxM]

I'd definitely have to agree with both Psychonauts and Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy.

A few others that come to mind:
Blade Runner
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall
Tribes Vengeance (also System Shock 2 & just about any Irrational game...)
Freespace 1/2
GTR 1/2
Red Orchestra (actually I'll just say all good simulations)
Pirates! (relative to its awesomeness)
I want to say Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but I think it did do well...?_?...
Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords
Clive Barker's Undying

That's all I've got for now. I'm aware that not all of these are truly poor sellers, but I seem to get that impression.

Just want to give my opinion on some of the games you have listed:
The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Tribes Vengeance, Freespace, Clive Barker's Undying - great games, but I think they did fine in terms of recognition and sales.

Pirates! - I think it is over hyped (but only my opinion). Or are you talking about the original 10+ years old one?

Heroes of Might & Magic 3 - Excellent game, but I think it was very successful in terms of recognition and sales. I mean who does not know about it?

Galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords - is it already out?

Planetscape (mentioned in other posts) - am I the only one who did not like it, especially multilayer? And I do consider myself an RTS fun.

 

[VBDude]

Planetscape (mentioned in other posts) - am I the only one who did not like it, especially multilayer?

Sounds like Diablo. :lol:

 

[guruofchem]

Most of the other posts were referring to Planescape: Torment, which was an RPG based on the Baldur's Gate engine, not Planetscape...

 

[MxM]

Most of the other posts were referring to Planescape: Torment, which was an RPG based on the Baldur's Gate engine, not Planetscape...

Oh! Sorry. The Torment is a fine game.

 

[MxM]

Any ideas? I'll start it off with a few: Psychonauts and Indigo Prophecy

I am not sure that Psychonauts is commercially unsuccessful. I do not know the official numbers, but I estimate popularity of the game by number of people who voted for the game marks on gamespot.

Psychonauts have PC, XBOX and PS2 version. 1,126 voted for PC version, 2,013 voted for XBOX version and 1,059 voted for PS2 version. That's more than 3,000 votes! Not too shabby.

And total number of votes for Indigo Prophecy is about 7,000. This is simply good!

In comparison Kohan 2 got only 277 votes. (only PC version exists)

 

[infornography42]

A few others that come to mind:
Blade Runner
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall
Tribes Vengeance (also System Shock 2 & just about any Irrational game...)
Freespace 1/2
GTR 1/2
Red Orchestra (actually I'll just say all good simulations)
Pirates! (relative to its awesomeness)
I want to say Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but I think it did do well...?_?...
Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords
Clive Barker's Undying

Galciv 2? That game sold so much that it made large software manufacturers start considering the DRM free model. The game was awesome but I would never say it undersold its potential.

Beyond Good and Evil on the other hand really should have done better, of course it could have been a bit more stable as well, but the game was great and sold very VERY poorly.

 

[robwright]

I am not sure that Psychonauts is commercially unsuccessful. I do not know the official numbers, but I estimate popularity of the game by number of people who voted for the game marks on gamespot.

Psychonauts have PC, XBOX and PS2 version. 1,126 voted for PC version, 2,013 voted for XBOX version and 1,059 voted for PS2 version. That's more than 3,000 votes! Not too shabby.

And total number of votes for Indigo Prophecy is about 7,000. This is simply good!

Good point, MxM. It's extremely tough to find reliable sales figures for a lot of games. I'm not surprised that both Psychonauts and Indigo Prophecy have a lot of votes on GameSpot. However, neither one is a PlayStation Greatest Hit, to the best of my knowledge, and given that the feedback on both titles has been overwhelming positive, you'd think both would be.

Additionally, games like Dreamfall, Tribes: Vengeance, Psychonauts, and Clive Barker's Undying were all nominated for GameSpot's "Best Game No One Played" award.

BTW, here's another one -- Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. It's not on GameCube's Players Choice list, but it's been on pretty much every list I've read for the best GameCube titles.

 

[MxM]

Additionally, games like Dreamfall, Tribes: Vengeance, Psychonauts, and Clive Barker's Undying were all nominated for GameSpot's "Best Game No One Played" award.

[sarcasm] Then it MUST be true. [/sarcasm]

Sorry, could not resist, but recently GameSpot marking driving me mad.

 

[llama_man]

I-War
Hardwar

Not sure how well GalCiv2 sold, but it deserved to be huge. It's MOO2 made pretty - what more could you want?

 

[VBDude]

Hey, check it out! IGN trollz the forumz.

 

[Morton]

I am not really sure about older games.... Veil of Darkness, Blade of Destiny, The Elder Scrolls 1: Arena, Terra Nova, Eye of the Beholder 2, Betrayal at Krondor, Stonekeep, Master of Magic, Skynet, Blade Runner, Battlecruiser, Dungeon Keeper, Knights & Merchants, Star Knights, Mount & Blade, Ground Control ..... ?



Anyone remember this game: http://sopwith.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ ? :lol:

 

[cafuddled]

Ground Control was a really good game, think you can even still pick up the gold edition if you looked hard enough... Blade Runner was also a great game, but was released fairly early in the days of the PC and needed a fairly good rig to play back then if I remember right so I don’t think it would have had as big a market base as PC games do today.

Incidentally I believe Blade Runner still works on Windows XP so if anyone is interested in an old classic with a good story and a load of different outcomes then it might be worth a try to source a copy out.

 

[llama_man]

Battlecruiser

8O Would this be Battlecruiser 3000AD that was so buggy it wouldn't even complete the training mission without crashing? 8O